Thanks from the Fantasy 411 + Important Blog Links

Hey guys,

On behalf of the 411, I just wanted to thank all of you for your participation on the blog and on the show throughout the season. The viewer question segments continue to be my favorite part of the shows, and there were plenty of great questions to choose from each and every day. As for the blog Q&A, I only hope that we contributed in some way towards your fantasy success.

Below are links to our special end of season blog posts. Included are our preliminary 2012 position-by-position rankings along with our All-Surprise, All-Disappointment, All-Fantasy, All-Rookie and All-Injury teams of 2011. You’ll also see our most recent Pitch or Ditch category chart and, last but not least, the complete Pitch or Ditch Stats spreadsheet. Over the course of the season, I kept a record of the show picks (two pitches and two ditches per show) made by each of our analysts and entered in the results. Who was the most successful Pitch or Ditch player between Mike, Cory, Nando and Joe? Did anyone’s ditches perform better than their pitches? Well, you’ll just have to see for yourselves.

Yesterday’s podcast was our final one until November, but in the meantime feel free to continue asking your questions here and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

Car-Go, CC and probably A-Ram are really the only three sure-fire top-5 rounders here so if you’re allowed to keep less than five while getting compensation picks prior to the standard draft, I’d consider just keeping those three. But if I had to keep five, I’d add Uggla and Choo.

We can keep less than 5 if we want so if I were to keep 3 I would get my 4th and 5th round picks. Thanks for the advice A-Ram surprised me to be mentioned, and no mention of Strasburg also. I also have a shameful man crush on Uggla and I traded for him just before his hitting streak haha.

Yeah, A-Ram is borderline and I can see him going as late as the 7th round. BUT considering the lack of depth at the 3B position, I’d at least think about keeping him. But if you want to go with just Car-Go and CC, that’s fine too. I think you’ll be able to get Uggla back, especially if you have those extra 2-3 picks, and chances are you can get someone even better at those spots.

My seven would be Votto, Jennings, Ellsbury, Santana, Morse, Strasburg and Hanson (I’ll take the chance that he comes into spring training fully healthy). Young comes close but I’ve pretty much had it with his inconsistency in the AVG department.

Nope, I’m not convinced at all that it was a fluke. Can Morse match his 2011 stat line in 2012? Maybe not. Is he a top-7 rounder? Borderline. But either way, I’d still take him over any of those other guys, including Young. .285-25-85 is still solid.

Thanks for a great season! I have a question regarding my keepers and picks for next season. It is a 12-team H2H Most Categories 5X5 league with SVHD replacing SV. We allow draft pick trading, and that’s what this question is about. Teams can have up to four keepers, and if you keep less, you get draft picks. My keepers were slated to be Braun, Votto, Granderson, and Kinsler, but I have an offer of Kinsler for a 6th round pick (70th overall). All indications are that every other team in the league will keep four, and I wouldn’t keep anyone else if I were to trade Kinsler. This would leave my with the first overall pick (a fourth) as well as a sixth, essentially. So, my question is, would you rather have Kinsler or a 4th and 6th? Some of the better players available in the 4th will be Konerko, Cain, Carlos Santana, Hosmer, Beltre, Price, Haren, Castro, Gordon, etc. Thanks for the help!

Kinsler…easily. Yeah, there’s always injury risk with him but his immense upside makes it worth it. I’d definitely take him over any of those possibly available guys. A 2B who can go 30/30 with 120+ runs is enormously valuable.

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